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Rushmore would seem to be exactly the sort of film that would appeal to me. It’s a stylized and ironic comedy that intelligently addresses multilayered themes. Director Wes Anderson shows the visual and narrative flair of an original artist, not content to spew out typical Hollywood product. It also marks the moment when the great comic actor, Bill Murray, finally proved himself to be a great actor. The film seemed so good on paper, but the end product never comes alive.

Perhaps my problem is in the casting of its lead. Jason Schwartzman plays Max Fischer, a high school student at the prestigious Rushmore Academy who has taken on leadership roles in so many extracurricular activities that he barely has time to go to class. Max is a character utterly convinced of his own genius. His ego is such that he is shocked when his affections toward a grade school teacher are not returned. He’s also socially awkward and has many attributes of the typical movie nerd.

Max is a complex character whom the filmmakers clearly relate to, but Schwartzman is not a good enough actor to show this depth. His performance isn’t bad, but it is alienating. He somehow needed to project both arrogance and vulnerability, while still allowing the audience to relate to him. Instead Max often comes across as simply obnoxious.

Bill Murray gives a much more nuanced performance as Herman Blume, a millionaire alumnus of Rushmore whose wealth has not bought happiness. Blume and Max become unlikely friends, mostly because each sees a mirror image of himself in the other. Rushmore marks the first film in which Murray embraced middle age and began a phase in his career that culminated with his acclaimed performance in Lost in Translation.

The friendship is short-lived as Max and Blume find they’ve both fallen for the same lovely teacher. Neither takes this competition well, but it does lead to the most wickedly funny sequence in the film. As The Who’s mini-opera “A Quick One While He’s Away” takes over the soundtrack, Max attacks Blume with—a hive of bees! Blume retaliates by running over Max’s beloved bicycle with his car. While hard on the bike, this actually makes for one memorable bicycle moment.

To be fair, Rushmore does have a cult following and I understand why. Wes Anderson has such a strong directorial signature that individual scenes seem to work even when the film as a whole does not. While Rushmore introduces intriguing themes, it does so in the context of dull plotting.
One area Anderson excels in, however, is his impeccable use of rock music, which matches his deadpan visuals so well.

Anderson’s debut, Bottle Rocket, and his recent, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, both suffer from the same inconsistencies as Rushmore. Only 2001’s The Royal Tenenbaums shows him reaching full potential as all his gifts and a wonderful cast finally come together for one of the sharpest and funniest films of the last decade. If you want to see what a great film Rushmore might have been, rent The Royal Tenenbaums.

RUSHMORE is easily Wes Anderson’s strongest film, and while his later works have been more concerned with being eccentric both visually and in term of narrative, this one finds the perfect balance. Anderson’s trademark visual style never becomes overbearing like it does in, say, THE LIFE AQUATIC, and the characters are all fully realized and just as interesting on subsequent viewings as they were the first time around.

There are not many perfect films (North by Northwest, 2001, Citizen Kane come to mind), but I consider Rushmore to be one of them. Anderson’s storytelling, the soundtrack and performances are all an absolute joy. Many people talk about the surreal aspects of the film, the clever editing and off-beat characters, but I have to say that its the real angst of its main characters (both young and old) that stands out for me. Favorite part by far: When Bill Murray and Olivia Williams are discussing “Max’s Latest Opus” and Bill says that he hopes it has a happy ending. You know he’s talking about more than just the play…

Something about Rushmore makes me watch it over and over again. The surealism of the film is aparent in almost every aspect of the fim. The strange relationship between a middle aged millionare and a highschool student, the absence of popular culuture, and the clever use of a british invasion soundtrack all give a sense of an unreal world of Bizzar ambition and adolesence. The fim is by far my favorite film by Wes Anderson, I always feel something different when I watch this mesmerizing film.

“We’re putting you on what we call sudden death academic probation.”

The curtains open. Everyone in this delicious concoction is a misfit and a fraud. In other words: an actor. They are not as smart, as dumb, as nice, as bad, as together, as wicked or as wordly as they pretend to be. Once you get that you get the movie’s charm. And you get why the hero is the biggest phony—Max. But we root for Max because of his chutzpah: he dreams dreams bigger than himself. He wants to be the star, the writer and the director. Why can’t he can have a surgeon father, make love to a widowed teacher, become best friends with a millionaire, build an aquarium, write “a hit play”? He has found the perfect stage where he can reign a big fish: Rushmore. He won’t stop until he makes a happy ending. And it has to be a spectacularly happy ending because the beginning is so damn depressing—his mom dies. Somewhere in here is a hymn to the Art of Trying. Just try. Try wrestling, fencing, Latin, acting, and when all else fails—dynamite. It even gives out two awards: for Attendance and Punctuality. Showing Up and and Punching In. Rarely has a movie been so willing to let its characters be mean and stupid and unlikable. Because this movie loves them all. Oh god, and don’t you just love Bill Murray?

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